security theater

Jean Weber of Destin filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia.

Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.

“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said Friday. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”

Iranian-American businessman Farid Seif didn't realize he had forgotten to remove his loaded snub nose "baby" Glock pistol from his computer bag and was shocked to discover the gun traveled unnoticed by TSA personnel.

Michael Roberts, a pilot for ExpressJet Airlines, who refused to submit to a full-body scan or the alternative pat down going through airport security said the procedures violate his rights. Roberts says he has safety concerns, but called TSA a "make-work" program that doesn't make travel safer.

London, England (CNN) -- In the name of improved security a hacker showed how a biometric passport issued in the name of long-dead rock 'n' roll king Elvis Presley could be cleared through an automated passport scanning system being tested at an international airport.

Using a doctored passport at a self-serve passport machine, the hacker was cleared for travel after just a few seconds and a picture of the King himself appeared on the monitor's display.